arch@hub.cs.jmu.edu (Arch Harris) (12/07/89)
/* I think our first try to post this didn't make it out of our system. If this is a repost please ignore */ There have been a number of posting by people interested in booting MINIX from a hard disk. We have a package which will allow you to do so (a few other people have similar packages). Our package can be accessed through FTP or UUCP. The package contains all the files necessary to create a bootable MINIX partition on your hard disk. Most of the work is done by shell scripts, provided to simplify the process. Very few changes have been made to MINIX to implement the HDMINIX system. The file system on the partition is an ordinary MINIX file system except its size must be at least 200Kb less than the total size of the partition. A modified MINIX boot program, suitable for use on the hard disk, is loaded into block 0 of the partition. The boot program loads the MINIX boot image, which it finds at the end of the partition starting with the first block after the file system. MINIX runs essentially unchanged. The only change is a minor change to `fs'. `Fs' uses BOOT_DEV and ROOT_DEV to identify what the boot and root devices are. Formerly BOOT_DEV and ROOT_DEV were constants set to the floppy drive and the ram disk, respectively. In HDMINIX, BOOT_DEV and ROOT_DEV are variables which are initialized to the floppy drive and the ram disk, respectively. When the `fs' boot image is loaded into the end of the MINIX partition, the initial values for BOOT_DEV and ROOT_DEV are adjusted to be the appropriate disk partition. |--------------------------------------------------| |Boot| File | Boot | |Blok| System | Image | |--------------------------------------------------| { 1K } Hard Disk Partition { 200 Kb } For those of you running XENIX, we also include a shell script which makes a program `/minix' which allows you to boot MINIX from the XENIX boot prompt. HDMINIX should work using any kind of hard disk and on either an AT, XT or PC type of machines. However, we only have the AT version of MINIX available to us so we can't say exactly what will happen on an XT or a PC. The files below are available using UUCP at: ..!uunet!virginia!jmucshub using anonymous FTP at: hub.cs.jmu.edu (FTP users should omit `/users/ftp' from the filenames since FTP changes the root directory to `/users/ftp'.) /users/ftp/pub/minix/hd_minix.tar A `tar' format file containing all the everything necessary to implement HDMINIX. /users/ftp/pub/minix/hd_minix.tar.Z A compressed version of the above. /users/ftp/pub/minix/untar/* All the files contained in the above. For more information, contact: INTERNET: minix@hub.cs.JMU.EDU UUCP: uunet!virginia!jmucshub!minix -- Arch Harris INTERNET: arch@hub.cs.JMU.EDU Dept of Computer Science UUCP: uunet!virginia!jmucshub!arch James Madison U. BITNET: fac_harris@JMUVAX1 Harrisonburg, VA 22807 Phone: (703) 568-6847